jpurdy24's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Calhoun, Georgia

Rock Garden Calhoun

Incredible miniature towns and buildings created and decorated with thousands of tiny rocks.
Ottawa, Ontario

Château Laurier

The mastermind behind this palatial hotel perished on the Titanic weeks before its grand opening.
Alexandria, Egypt

The Lost City of Heracleion

An ancient city exhumed from the depths of the ocean.
San Andrés Cholula, Mexico

The Great Pyramid of Cholula

An Aztec temple, the largest man-made pyramid in the world, sits buried in earth with a Spanish church set on top.
Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal

The Village of Monsanto

Houses are tucked between, on, and underneath giant boulders.
Barcelona, Spain

Sant Pau Recinte Modernista

The largest Art Nouveau complex in the world is a Barcelona hospital with a 600-year-long history.
New Mexico

Ra Paulette's Hand-Carved Caves

One man has carved a number of natural New Mexico caves into psychedelic sandstone temples.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Ulugh Beg Observatory

Light still pours into the ruins of this ancient Islamic observatory.
Savannah, Georgia

Plant Riverside

A once-groundbreaking power plant turned into a hotel and mini-museum of archeological and geological wonders.
Petite-Rivière-de-l'Ile, New Brunswick

The Candy Church

Inside the simple black-and-white exterior of Église Sainte-Cécile hides a pastel wonderland.
Ohaupo, New Zealand

The Tree Church

One man's dream has turned into this naturally growing chapel made of almost nothing but trees.
Coral Gables, Florida

Venetian Pool

The only swimming pool listed on the National Register of Historic Places is emptied and refilled each day with naturally filtered water.
San Pablo City, Philippines

Waterfalls Restaurant

An eatery in a shallow river where diners can enjoy their meal mere feet from the base of an artificial waterfall.
Toronto, Ontario

Winter Garden Theatre

A botanically themed auditorium blooms within the world’s last operating double-decker theater.
Krakow, Poland

Church of St. Francis of Assisi

Inside this Krakow church, an explosion of psychedelic color.
Abang, Indonesia

Tirta Gangga Water Palace

Sacred waters rescued from the wrath of a volcano.
Al Ula, Saudi Arabia

Lion Tombs of Dadan

Lions carved into the rockface adorn these two tombs built into the mountains of Dadan.
Clifton, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Happy Island

Starting with nothing more than discarded conch shells, one man has built an island/bar that would make Jimmy Buffet jealous.
Allouville-Bellefosse, France

Le Chêne Chapelle (The Chapel Oak)

Two small chapels housed inside an ancient tree.
Matmatat-Al-Qadimal, Tunisia

Matmata Underground Houses

Made famous by 'Star Wars,' these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.
Matavun, Slovenia

Skocjan Caves

This massive subterranean fissure is known as the "underground Grand Canyon."
Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Gearrannan Blackhouse Village

Spend the night in this formerly abandoned traditional Scottish village.
Padernello, Italy

Castello di Padernello

A stately castle in the northern Italian countryside has been restored after years of neglect.
Ridgedale, Missouri

Bat Bar in Lost Canyon Cave

If there's another drive-through golf-cart bar in a bat-filled cave on top of a mountain, we don't know about it.